Off the Record: Inhumane error

October 06, 2003|By Jim Grisso, Publisher

Someone once said to err is human. Judges in this country, most of whom are held in high esteem, make bad judgments on occasion. Some commit serious errors. They get by with it because they have unbelievable power and authority.

Such is the case with Gaylord's Karl and Gerry David, husband and wife of 46 years who have been separated by a judge's ruling. It's cruel, it's wrong and it demonstrates a major flaw in our judicial system.

What ever happened to due process? The judge, Macomb County Probate Judge Pamela Gilbert O'Sullivan, apparently doesn't understand the meaning of the term. Or maybe they don't offer it in her probate court.

Certainly, Gerry David, a devoted wife and mother who is highly regarded by many in our community, was denied due process when the court and the infamous Family Independence Agency (FIA) teamed up to concoct a decision that gave permanent guardianship and conservatorship of Karl to their daughter, Kristine Korpal.

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Karl, who's a victim of the dreaded Alzheimer's disease, is currently under the direct control of his daughter who lives with her husband and children in Mt. Clemens.

Ironically, Karl served as director of the Otsego County FIA (formerly Dept. of Social Services) for a number of years.

The FIA is notorious for making questionable decisions. The one they made in the Karl David case was careless and without merit. Unfortunately, FIA, by law, is not accountable to the public.

It all happened so fast, with no opportunity for recourse by Gerry. Within nine days after daughter Kristine took her father from the Gaylord couple's home, a trip that was planned under false pretense, Judge O'Sullivan issued an ex parte (read emergency) order giving Kristine temporary legal guardianship.

The FIA in both Otsego and Macomb counties got into the act in a hurry leading up to this "emergency." A caseworker visited the Davids' home without explaining to Gerry why she was there.

Her report to the court: "There were things happening in the home that Mrs. David was not supporting her husband in the way that she should, she was letting Karl Jr. (a son) do things with the money that he should not be doing." Talk about a rush to judgment.

Simultaneously, a caseworker in Macomb County, acting as a petitioner to probate court, requested Karl be placed in Kristine's care, based on Kristine's and Karl's testimony. Remember, this is a man who has Alzheimer's.

Gerry virtually had no clue what was happening until she received official court notice Jan. 24 (16 days after she last saw her husband) that her daughter was now temporary guardian. Where's the due process? Gerry never got her "day in court."

The judge made another blunder along the way when she thought she appointed a Macomb County attorney special conservator for Karl, succeeding Kristine as temporary guardian. Gerry's attorney, E. Patrick Murray, former judge and attorney in Otsego County now practicing in Macomb, subsequently pointed out to the judge that the attorney never was, in fact, appointed temporary guardian.

"Well, I have no explanation for that, counsel. I'm not sure whether or not we need to belabor that," the judge told Murray. Judges can do that sort of thing and get away with it.

The judge based a big part of her decision on Karl's statements. Here's a man who has had Alzheimer's disease almost 10 years. With all due respect, what kind of a credible witness can he be?

To err is human, but in this case the judge made one of the most inhumane decisions I've ever heard of.

- Jim Grisso is publisher of the Gaylord Herald Times. You may write him at PO Box 598, Gaylord, MI 49734, or e-mail him at jim@gaylordheraldtimes.com